[TheForge] Re: Photographing your work (on the cheap)

[theforge@mailman.qth.net]

With all the advancements in digital cameras, some of the older ones are really 
cheap, like in the $40 - $60 range. I can't comment on individual ones, since 
I've only ever used mine, a Fuji FinePix 1400. That's now a low to middle end 
camera with 1.2 megapixels. But I can give some idea on features so that you 
can decide what's most important for you. I'll leave out any of the fancy ($$$) 
ones, mainly because I know nothing about those.

Resolution: 

If your pics will mostly be for website work and email sharing, then 640 X 480 
(or thereabouts) is more than enough. In fact, if you ever use higher, like 
1280 X 960, without warning, you'll get comments that your page takes forever 
to load.

If you want to print them out, I find that my 1280 X 960 gives me photo-like 
quality up to 5 X 7's, maybe bigger. 640 X 480 will give decent 3 X 5's.

LCD:

The cheaper cameras will not have an LCD display. I find this useful for 
checking to see if my shot came out OK. Some people (like my wife) keep it on 
most of the time and use it to set up the shots. If you do this, you'll need an 
extra bag for batteries. The display eats batteries. I also use it for out-of-
position shots, like trying to shoot over people's heads. It at least lets me 
see if I'm aiming in the general direction. Some fancy cameras let you position 
the LCD all over the place.

Again, that's my use. If $$ is a big concern, then it's at least no worse than 
an Instamatic (how many remember this camera anyway?)

Oh yeah, one other neat thing about LCD's. If you fill your memory, you can use 
the LCD to view your pictures and maybe delete the ones that didn't come out to 
make room. Try *that* with film :-)


Batteries:

Battery life is rarely spec'd out, but if you go to one of the many 
opinion/rating websites out there, like epinions.com or cnet.com, you'll get 
some idea on real-life tests. My camera uses AA's and can take re-chargeables 
(NiMH). I have two sets of these and swap back and forth. A set is usually good 
for about 100 pictures the way I use the LCD.

I noticed that the smaller cameras use lithium. These are more expensive and I 
don't know if they're rechargeable. But they last longer than any other battery 
that I know of.

Another thing to remember, the downloading also eats batteries. So if you can 
get a camera with an AC adapter, that's a nice feature. Use the adapter when 
downloading or even when you're taking lots of pics near a plug and don't need 
to move around alot.

Downloading:

Notice how I segue into subjects? Pretty clever, huh? Anyway, there's lots of 
ways to download your pictures. The cheap cameras only have a serial port. This 
is the slowest and most battery consumptive. But it works, and you really only 
do this after a day or so of picture-taking.

My camera has USB. This is the fastest, and my software (Linux) sees it as a 
read-only disk drive. Some cameras allow writing, too.

Some cameras have a floppy, making it very universal, although limited in 
memory. Others can write on micro CD's that can also be read on regular-size 
CD's. Both these options tend to be more expensive.

Memory card readers are another way to download. Although this is not part of 
any camera, it's an attachment for your PC that will read your camera's memory 
card (if it uses one). 

Memory:

The thrifty cameras usually only have internal memory and are not expandable. I 
think 2Meg is common, but I really never researched this. Based on my usage, 
32Meg at 1280 X 960 pictures is good for around 90 pictures. This depends on 
the subject, as the jpg compression is sensitive to complex images, like flower 
gardens. Rough average is around 320K per picture. At 2Meg and 640 X 480, doing 
some simplistic math gets you around 40 pictures.

One nice thing about the memory cards is you can use them like rolls of film. 
When one fills up, just pop in another. The cards are getting cheaper all the 
time, too.

And then, of course, are the disc options I mentioned above.

Zoom/Optics:

Optical zooming is really nice. Digital zooming has some use, but may produce 
grainy pictures. But without zoom, you're still ahead of the Instamatic. For 
optics, you're best checking out the rating sites. I have nore experience in 
whose lenses are best.


Flash/light sensitivity: 

These are similar to film cameras as far as options are concerned. You can get 
on/off/auto, or on/off/auto/red-eye, or all of the above with "night" 
extension, and maybe other tech stuff. I find Auto works fine for me unless I'm 
in a place that doesn't allow flash. 

Here, I think I just lucked out and got a camera that takes pretty decent 
pictures on low-ish light conditions. But it might be something you want to 
look more into.

Timer:

Mine has a self-timer. I almost never use it, but I mention it as something you 
might need (or not).

Software:

I think just about every new camera comes with some type of 
viewing/editing/cataloging software. Most will let you rotate, crop, lighten, 
darken, and maybe do some color shifting. A freeware program, called IrfanView 
gives you some more editing. But to really mess around and have some fun you 
need something like Adobe's Photoshop. There is a freeware one, called Gimp, 
that is also a pretty intensive photo-editing program. It originated in the 
Unix/Linux world and now runs on Windows. But it's got a weird user interface 
that takes some getting used to. But did I mention it's free???

As an aside, my son is a PhotoShop wizard (at least compared to me :-). My 
sister wanted a group shot with her friends, so she gave him two pictures, one 
with her in the group and one with someone else. He was able to insert her into 
the pic and I couldn't see any edit marks. He also gave her some extras - one 
with the Loch-ness monster in the lake in the background, and another with 
everyone's heads shrunk to the size of baseballs. 

Prints:

Not a camera option, but may be of interest. WalMart will now take CD's and 
print pics for you for $0.26 per picture. That comes out roughly equal to my 
costs, when you consider photo-paper and ink. But if you don't have a nice 
printer, then you're way ahead. I don't have the address, but you can also 
email your files to WalMart and they'll print them at the nearest one to you or 
snail-mail them.

Other camera/photo shops can take CD's or even memory cards and print for you.

My printer is an HP-950C. This prints great pics on HP or Kodak photo paper. 
Look for rebates at places like Staples to get deals on both ink and paper. I 
know there are other good printers out there, so check the rating websites to 
see how those compare. Some printers even take the memory cards directly and 
will print without going through special software.


I guess that's all I can think of. Hope this helps.

-Marc


Quoting Phlip <phlip@99main.com>:

> 
> So, what do you guys suggest as a good, workman-like digital camera, perhaps
> a step above an Instamatic-equivalent, pretty user friendly, and
> inexpensive?
>